self-serving

Thân thiện

A manager makes a self-serving decision to take credit for the team's work.

Definition

Adjective: 1. Acting primarily for one's own benefit or advantage: Characterized by actions or motives that are intended to serve oneself, often with disregard for others. 2. Promoting one's own interests: Designed to further one's personal agenda, status, or welfare.

Usage

The adjective "self-serving" is used to describe a person, their behavior, motives, or statements. It carries a negative connotation, implying selfishness and a lack of consideration for others. - It typically modifies nouns like behavior, motives, agenda, interests, excuse, justification, argument, or person. - It is often used in critical or analytical contexts to question someone's true intentions.

Examples

• His apology seemed self-serving and insincere, aimed only at repairing his public image.
• The politician's self-serving policies benefited his wealthy donors rather than the general public.
• She was accused of having a self-serving attitude, always putting her career before her team.
• The manager's decision was transparently self-serving, designed to secure a promotion for himself.

Advanced Usage

• "self-serving bias": A common cognitive bias in psychology where individuals attribute their successes to internal factors (like skill) and their failures to external factors (like bad luck).
  • His explanation for the project's failure was a classic example of a self-serving bias.

Variants and Related Words

• Self-interest (noun): One's personal interest or advantage.
  • He acted out of self-interest, not altruism.
• Self-interested (adjective): Having or motivated by self-interest.
  • The self-interested lobbyist influenced the legislation.

Synonyms

• Selfish: Concerned chiefly with one's own personal profit or pleasure.
• Egocentric: Viewing everything in relation to oneself; self-centered.
• Self-seeking: Seeking one's own interest or happiness, especially to the exclusion of others.
• Opportunistic: Exploiting immediate opportunities, especially in a selfish way.

Antonyms

• Altruistic: Showing a selfless concern for the well-being of others.
• Selfless: Concerned more with the needs and wishes of others than with one's own.
• Unselfish: Willing to put the needs of others before one's own.

Related Idioms and Phrases

• To have an axe to grind: To have a private, often selfish, reason for being involved in something.
  • His criticism of the plan isn't objective; he has an axe to grind.
• To look out for number one: To take care of oneself first; to be self-serving.
  • In that competitive industry, you have to look out for number one.

Học thuật

Adjective

1. interested only in yourself

Từ đồng nghĩa

• self-seeking